Hi Kate
You bring up a good point about those graduates who don't plan to seek a job but rather work on their own, set up their own business, or work freelance. This applies to many professions in addition to massage therapy. So perhaps schools should plan on employment training that includes entrepreneur skills, how to set up your own business, marketing, planning, budgeting, and more. And bring in grads who have been successful in working on their own. Also it will be necessary to structure grad surveys that include questions about working on ones own.Best wishes, Susan
We normally ask the senior instructor for each program offered to present the information related to a particular field. Program coordinators, externship coordinators and school directors are also utilized.
Since our programs are medically based, we ask that a representative from our externship sites come in as a guest speaker. We also have guest speakers from employment agencies and fashion backgrounds present how the student should dress for their interviews.
Our approach to these people is quite the same as our advisory board members. We attempt to enlighten them on how their direct involvement could have a positive change on future employment candidates.
Interesting Ron. You get people from the field to buy into assisting you and the students by reminding them that they will benefit. We really believe in on-going involvement with people in the industry - particularly employers and grads who are successful on the job. This makes the work experience very real for the student and helps to take the fear out of looking for a job. Best wishes, Susan
We teach medical programs, which are in demand. The hospitals and long term health care facilites typically have HR Departments that are more than willing to come to a job fair at the school, or speak to the student body. This is an excellent way for them to recruit and for the school to place students. It is a win win situation.
There is also a lot of relationship building that goes on in Placement. A part of Placement is community outreach. The Placement Director needs to understand sales, and must be able to sell the positives about the school and its graduates. This will help draw the potential employers into your school.
You are so right, Andrew. A key job of the career department is to build relationships with employers - those employers who already know about your school and those who don't. Then ask for their assistance and ideas. You'll be surprised how available they are to help out with everything from curriculum, equipment revie, scholarships, job workshops, mentoring, and more. Thanks, Susan
Great point!! It can be very difficult to hold a successfull Program Advisory Committee meeting. Schedules often conflict and burnout can also be a factor. Joining your local Chamber of Commerce is a great start. Externship sites as well as recent employers are a great place to try as well. We have recently scheduled PAC meetings once a week over a six week period to try to reduce any scheduling conflicts that may occur.
It can increase your workload a little however we have had a 50% increse it our PAC attendance.
HI James, Really amazing that your PAC attendance has increased. Once a week meetings usually does create burnout. Can you tell us more about your meetings, how long they are, what your expectations are, and basically what keeps the participants coming back. Thanks, Susan
We conduct weekly employer visits in the community. We ask employers who personify the professionalism and experience that our graduates will identify with in their future careers. We ask different employers when conducting our visits and invite them to the college to speak with the students.
Hi Kerrie
Can you tell us more about your employer strategies. Employers can be a great resource. They can mentor, evaluate curriculum, hold mock interviews, tell students what it takes to get a job, improve on the job, get a raise, and make the employer interviewee relationship successful. Thanks, Susan
Just getting out there, networking, and meet potential employers is the first step. Once they have confidence in you, they are willing to become partners in preparing the students. Like you said, they hold mock interviews that seem more “real” because they are out of the school and not with school staff. They then can follow up with the students and career placement on how the interview went and what improvements can be made. Once the employers trust you and see how you are preparing the students, they will be more than happy to forgo the fees for posting jobs and going directly to the placement office.
Hi Lawrence, Very good to remind us all the importance of employer relationships. To us developing and maintaining contact with employers and potential employers is a must and win-win situation. Employers can sit on advisory boards, review curriculum, give you feedback about your grads, hold mock interviews, give presentations about what hiring staff is looking for, how to keep a job, get a raise, mentor students, offer job shadowing opportunities, etc. Best wishes, Susan
I have a large data base of employers. How often would you recommend to bring in guest speakers? Student population is about 900.
Hi Theresa, Suggest you bring people in as often as possible. The more people the more talent you get to review. Put some measurements in place. See what gets results. Ask questions. You will discover many innovative ways to use employers to develop the best grads and make the most effective placements. Good luck, Susan
I usually start with agencies, I can always achieve anything I need from them. They help me with the students employments. They go out and take test, such as typing, writing, and reading. To test their knowledge and based on that they are placed in a salary and job.
Interesting use of agencies. Perhaps you can also offer some of the skills training at your school. Then you won't have to rely on agencies and students might feel more comfortable staying on campus. Thanks, Susan
Our career development course is a part of the curriculmn which includes resume writing, interviewing skills, and developing the career portfolio. After the course we have our Career Fair in which we invite our past placed graduates to tell about their experience from day one to placement. Additionally community HR Personnel are invited to speak about their company and job openings. We have placed many students from our twice a year Career fairs.
Wanda S.
HI Wanda, Sounds like you have a lot of strategies in place that work. You might want to look at the consistency and persistence of the career services department. Do you reach students early enough? Are there tasks for them to complete occuring throughout their school experience? What is their confidence level? Do you stay in touch with them during the job search process and give feedback for each interview. And most important - what are they doing on the job? You may place them - but what if they are a medical assistant and get a job in a hospital? But in the laundry room? So do you know where your grads are working and what they are doing? Always good to measure measure measure. Facts are what regulatory bodies love to see. Thanks, Susan
One person I asked to provide a presentation is someone in a governmental agency who finds jobs for graduates who are hard to place.
I found out this man was working with a former graduate who had obtained & then within a very short period of time, lost two jobs. We had a mutual interest in placing this grad & decided to work together sharing contacts. Ultimately, one of our contacts resulted in a good job offer.
The man was very pleased with the success we had working together. We invited him to our school to discuss how we might work together in the future. We came up with a plan to do exactly that.
In addition, we invited the man to participate on our community advisory panel. He said he was honored & agreed to do so.
In conclusion, we targeted someone with mutual interests. It's in both of our interests to have our grads employed; therefore it made sense for us to work together. It's been a win-win for everybody.
This sounds great Marcia. Can you get the job title of this person. There may be a similar person in other communities. He sounds like a great resource. But whether he does exist elsewhere, we should all be able to find people like this who can assist in a variety of ways. It might take several people, but it all points to reaching out to our communities. There are many mutual interests between career schools and the needs of the community. It takes communicating. Thanks, Susan
His title is Job Developer & he is employed by Work Force 1. Marcia
